Men's Convention

It's Sunday afternoon and I'm sitting here in my study writing this blog to the backdrop of another torrential rain shower. It seems like we've had a considerable amount of rain this summer, which the farmers appreciate but would prefer in the winter. I've had to move stuff around in my office to prevent losing things to water damage like I did a few weeks ago.

On Friday evening a few of us took the male students to Katoomba to attend the annual men's convention that runs there. It was a good weekend, though - as usual for me - not without its share of angst, frustration and challenges.

On the way down, a few of us were talking about what constituted acceptable humour (oh yes, we live life in the fast lane down here) and a fellow staff member, Phil, shared some thoughts from The Screwtape Letters. He was talking about how Lewis (in the persona of the demonic author of the letters) categorises humour according to how easily it can be used for evil purposes. The worst type, according to what Phil was saying, is the cynicism that turns everything into a joke; the humour that prevents people from sharing anything honest about themself for fear of ridicule and turns a cowardly act into a heroic one by making a joke of it. It was interesting to think about, as I can so easily use humour in such a destructive way.

At the convention they have a Q&A session. As it was a men's convention, there was talk of relationships with the family, women and sex. Many of the questions asked reflected the topics that we had been thinking about. One of the original panel members had to drop out due to ill health, so he was replaced at short notice by the MC of the weekend. Jokes were made about his understandable reluctance to sit in the hot seat at such short notice, and how the hard questions would be given to him. Sure enough, a tricky question came up; a question about a difficult situation concerning sexual relations with a wife. It touched on a variety of challenging and raw issues. Sure enough, the question was handed to the reluctant stand-in, to the greatest amusement of us in the crowd. It got one of the biggest laughs of the weekend.

A part of me died inside. This wasn't a hypothetical situation, this was real-life. Reading between the lines (which wasn't hard to do) this seemed to be a heart-breaking situation for the people involved and we turned it into a joke. I don't doubt that prayer had been said and tears shed in that relationship. If ever there was a cynical, twisted use of humour that illustrated Lewis' point exactly, that was it.

I don't even remember the answer given to the question. What is even the point of men's conventions if we can't bear the burdens of our weakest brothers and weep with them?

Eleven Months to Christmas...

Well, the end of 2010 is in sight and it's time to think about Christmas presents and what 2011 is going to bring.

Actually, there's plenty to do in 2010 first. We're coming to end of our orientation period, and the year is about to really get under way for us. We've got a great bunch of students this year. What really encourages me is how many of them are just so keen to learn and grow. The kind of training that we offer means that I value hunger for God higher than academic ability in our prospective disciples.

We've had a lot of rain here over the past couple of weeks. It's played a bit of havoc with our work schedule, as harvesting melons doesn't happen so well in the rain. If they get wet then they explode.

An Update.

I'm not doing too well with the updating of the blog, am I?

We've started the new year, which means that the old students have all said goodbye and gone (except for those that haven't) and some new ones have arrived. It's an interesting time of year because it involves change. Change can be good, but I'm the sort of person who finds it fairly stressful 99% of the time. Maybe that should be 100%? I'm trying to think of a time when I wasn't stressed out by something changing. When I last changed Parker's nappy that wasn't too stressful. Maybe I'll keep it at 99%.

I was talking to Dave (a fellow staff member) last year and he was telling me about a book he'd read by M Scott Peck (I think it was The Road Less Travelled). One of the things that he got from the book was the realisation that change and problems are an inevitable part of life. There is nothing that you can do to escape them. They are going to come your way. If you view change and problems as causes for stress; bad things that should be avoided, then you will spend a fair amount of your life depressed because you are destined to run headlong into them. Now, if you view change and problems as potential areas for growth and benefit then you can totally take the sting out of them, as well as increase your mental health.

Which of these two perspectives (fear vs. potential) best fits the message of the Christian gospel? Which of the two, for the child of God, is what God promises for us?

I'm becoming more and more convinced that most of the things that deny us joy in life are about internal matters - our perspective - rather than actual external modifications to our lifestyle. If this is true, then our biggest problem in life is the fact that we tend to listen to and believe the voices of others, the world, our experiences, the enemy and ourselves more than we listen to and trust the voice of the Holy Spirit whispering the promises of God to our soul.

In theory, that makes transformation a lot easier than we might fear it to be.

Back in Australia

Ah, back in the Land Down Under - where wind blows and then thunders, or something. I guess that, technically, New Zealand is also the Land Down Under but I don't think anyone has ever written a song about New Zealand. Have they?

Anyway, we're back and gearing up for the start of the new year. Back to watermelons and lots of meeting new people. Happy New Year to everyone out there!

Overseas at Christmas

In a week, we'll be heading off to New Zealand to spend Christmas with Ruth's sister and her family. They've very kindly offered us their air miles so that we can be with them over the holiday season. We're looking forward to that. When we get back in the New Year it will be back to watermelon season. Yay!

It's been a good first year for us in Canowindra. It's strange to think that there will be a new batch of students here in a month or so, and the course and relationships will be starting over again. I understand that it can be tough to spend a year discipling and sharing your life with a group of people, only for you to have to start again from scratch every January but I'm still new to this so haven't yet felt that dread at having to begin from the beginning once more. It would be nice to have longer than a year with the students, as it's only just now that some of the guys are starting to 'get it' and others who could probably benefit from a longer time with us. We do have a few students who are staying on next year as they were looking to do the course over two years.

I was doing a bit of reflecting this morning. I was out listening to the birds singing, and there was a farmer harvesting hay in the field next to me. His machinery was extremely noisy, and it was a harsh ugly noise which contrasted sharply with the sounds of nature. I thought about how God had managed to create a functional and beautiful world and yet when we create we struggle to combine beauty and functionality. The things we make tend to be either one or the other, and yet the expert Maker can blend the two together seamlessly. When it comes to creating, we're just amateurs really.

Still still alive...

Another update because I have to register my disgust at the run of incredibly hot days we've been having recently. The past three days haven't dropped below 40 degrees and I've had enough. We went to the swimming pool this morning, which was nice I suppose but it shouldn't be 41 degrees before MIDDAY.

Good news is that the air conditioning in my study is working in tip top condition.

Still alive...

Yep, we're still alive. Just busy, spending every waking hour trying to keep cool.